“Arrested Development: The Documentary” might hit theaters before the film

I have a tendency to become obsessed with television shows that end abruptly due to low ratings. No matter how many times I ask myself how a show like Two and a Half Men has been on the air for six years while a comedy gem like Arrested Development got axed after three seasons, I just end up saying not-so-nice things about the general public and stomping my foot. But like anyone else in a miserable situation, company is always nice.

For those of you unfamiliar (who have probably lost interest in this post by now) Arrested Development was a hilarious television show that ran on Fox from 2003 to 2006, starring a young(er) Michael Cera, Portia de Rossi, David Cross, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett — I could go on and on. The cast was amazing, and it was smarter than most 30-minute sitcoms, which is probably why it only lasted three seasons. There I go, hating on the general public again.

While there has been speculation about an Arrested Development movie, there has been no production schedule set, and it seems to be far from a release date. While many fans are holding their breath for the movie, two die-hards decided to make their own.

Arrested Development: The Documentary is a 90-minute trip down Bluth family lane made by Neil Lieberman and Jeff Smith. The two spent their own money (telling the Wall Street Journalthey charged more than $20,000 on their credit cards) to travel across the U.S., Canada and to London interviewing other hardcore fans.

Here’s the trailer:

“One fan had frozen bananas and a banner hanging on the wall of their apartment,” Lieberman said. “[During the interview,] they even took out a Franklin puppet. They went out of their way to talk to us about this.”

That scene in itself will get me to the theater.

While the enthusiastic fans were surely exciting, Lieberman and Smith were likely more excited about sitting down with the cast — including de Rossi, Bateman, Cross and producer Ron Howard — to reminisce about the show. Even Keith Olbermann chimed in about how great the show was.

“I hate the words ‘ground breaking’,” de Rossi says in the trailer. “But really, come on, it was groundbreaking.”

“They loved working on the show,” Lieberman said. “They want more of it. A lot of their careers have moved on from this. But the fact of the matter is that it’s something they want to do.”

The project has yet to strike a distribution deal, but hopefully when more people learn and get excited about it, something will happen. Which is pretty much why they set out to do the documentary in the first place.

“We felt like the show never got a fair chance,” Smith said. “As much as this is an homage to the show, we’re doing also it to get more fans.”

I’ll be checking out the doc for sure. Meanwhile, I’ll keep waiting for the movie. I’m going to need a damn good analrapist if the whole thing falls through.